BUDAPEST–Considering the vehicle that defined the compact crossover-utility-vehicle segment – Honda's CR-V – has been around since 1997, one could say Volkswagen has taken its sweet time with its own CUV, the Tiguan, nein?

It's not the first time the German brand's been slow to react to North American auto trends. With its 2003 Touareg, Volkswagen took more than a decade to respond to the mid-1990s SUV craze. Its current Rabbit compact took almost three years to make its trip across the Atlantic.

At the moment, the CUV segment is probably the most crowded and competitive in the biz. Why a VW CUV now?

For starters, VW recognized it needed a more reasonably sized and priced vehicle than its $50,000-and-up Touareg (say Too-ah-raig).

Despite the five-passenger, five-door Tiguan (say Teeg-won) being styled to look like the Touareg's "little brother," against the benchmark Honda CR-V, the Tiguan is a little shorter, narrower – yet taller – in dimension.

Already being sold in Europe, Tiguan will be available in Canada this spring. The front-wheel drive model with a six-speed manual transmission will start at $27,575, while the 4MOTION model with mandatory six-speed Tiptronic will sell for $30,975.

When they do arrive, Canadian Tiguans will come exclusively with the 2.0-litre turbo four, producing 200 hp and 207 lb.-ft., already found in many VW and Audi products. VW says the Tiptronic is being used instead of the faster-acting dual-clutch DSG (direct shift gearbox) to imbue the Tiguan with a maximum 2,500 kg towing capacity.

So, if you're in the small CUV market, is the Tiguan worth the wait?

Based on 200 km spent behind the wheel of Euro-market Tiguans in and around Hungary's capital, I can give you a definite "maybe."

In Europe, VW is marketing two distinct Tiguan models: on-road (Trend & Fun and Sport & Style) and off-road (Track & Field). The Track & Field's main differentiator is a unique lower front fascia. This allows a more "adventure-friendly" vehicle with 28 instead of 18 degrees of approach angle compared to the on-road Tiguans.

Track & Fields also come with an additional "off-road" button. This adjusts the hill descent control, throttle sensitivity, ABS, hill start and differential lock in the Haldex AWD system. VW boasts a Tiguan Track & Field with a stick can be driven at just less than 7 km/h, equating to a crawler gear. The automatic transmission has a gear level pre-select: in off-road use it prevents shifting to the next higher gear.

We had a brief drive around an off-road course VW designed to highlight the CUV's capabilities.

Let's just say, that among car-based CUVs, the Tiguan's right up there with Land Rover's LR2 in offering a plethora of electronics.

The design, ergonomics and robust build quality of the Tiguan's interior will remind you of the Rabbit platform it's derived from. On the practical side, there's more leg- and headroom than in the Rabbit. And the Tiguan's 60/40 rear seats fold and recline with an armrest that opens for long objects.

In European Tiguans, at least, VW's first touch-screen radio and navigation system with a 30-gig hard drive, off-road navigation mode and rear-view camera will be available as well as a self-parking assistant similar to the party trick found in the Lexus LS luxo-barge.

A CUV with a big, chrome VW badge in the grille means high expectations for the Tiguan on-road, its most likely home.

With no Canadian gasoline models available at the event, we drove the next best thing: a Tiguan with the 2.0-litre diesel – 143 hp and 235 lb.-ft. – that's showing up in VW Jettas next spring.

VW won't confirm, but this diesel will probably end up here in Tiguans a year or so after launch.

Thankfully, on-road, the Tiguan doesn't deviate from the Rabbit's Teutonic roots.

Steering is accurate without the lightness found in most CUVs. The ride's actually better than in a Rabbit or Jetta. The Tig's quieter, too. And the handling, at least on the Euro base-model 17-inch rubber we drove (18-inchers are upgrades), was compact hatch competent, with little understeer unless really pushed hard.

The aforementioned "maybe" on purchasing VW's CUV applies to the Tiguan's relative sloth: VW quotes 0-to-100 km/h in both transmissions with this 2.0 diesel at more than 10 seconds.

The upside is combined European fuel consumption ratings of under 8 L/100 km and 199 g/km in CO2 emissions. Unless VW Canada fools around with tranny gearing, don't expect the 2.0T gas model we're getting to be much quicker.

But the reality is most CUV customers are just trying not to bonk their heads when getting their kids out of the back seat for daycare – not smoke the punk a lane over in the slammed GTI.

In that case, if you're looking for a roomier, better riding and quieter VW Rabbit with available AWD, the new Tiguan has definitely been worth the wait.


- John LeBlanc, Publisher.

2009 Volkswagen Tiguan
Price:$27,575/ $30,975.
Federal rebate/penalty: No
Engine: 2.0-litre turbocharged I4
Power/torque: 200 hp/207 lb.-ft.
Competition: Honda CR-V, Land Rover LR2, Mazda CX-7, Toyota RAV4, Saturn Vue, Saab 9-4
What's best: Upscale interior, ride and handling, configurable backseat.
What's worst: Straight-line performance.
What's interesting: 350,000 European auto magazine readers chose the name Tiguan over Rockton, Nanuk, Samun, Namib